The OneMinute Geek

Stopping high-tech cheaters

The Problem:

Cheaters never go away, they just use better tools. Even today it seems ingenious, but almost a decade ago, students on the East Coast took the SAT test then e-mailed the answers to California where they sold the answers printed on thousands of quickly manufactured #2 pencils.

High school students aren't the only ones substituting the ol' crib sheet with high-tech gadgets. In 1997, a University of Southern California law student suddenly ran out of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) with his exam book to a waiting getaway car. Proctors were unable to grab him. A few hours later, two students at UH were just settling into their LSAT test with their electronics pagers, receiving answers from their buddy in California .

Well, times really haven't changed much since then. Cheating is still a problem. However, the tools for cheating have become more prevalent. For example, students can now afford fully featured cell phones, which take pictures, send and receive email, store lots of data and surf the Internet. As a result, cheaters can use cell phones to send images of test questions to "helpers" outside the test room and receive answers via text messaging or online chat rooms.

The Solution:

Fight technology with technology. In addition to the traditional methods of preventing deviant behavior, i.e. character development and building trusting relationships between students and teachers, schools are turning to high-tech gadgets to thwart state-of-the-art cheaters.

The first line of defense is a cell phone detector. With an effective range of 90 feet, these devices detect radio waves from a cell phone or PDA, then sound an alarm, trigger a flashing red light and / or blast out a prerecorded message asking the cell phone user to turn off the phone. Check out www.cellbusters.com.

To help prevent the use of cell phone cameras, there's software to disable the camera function in cell phones. Visit http://www.icebergsystems.co.uk/.

Although the Federal Communications Commission prohibits anyone from interfering with licensed telecommunications, you can purchase devices which block cell phone usage entirely. Such cell phone jammers are illegal in the U.S. and Europe , but are widely available in Asia .

Cell Block Technologies (http://www.cell-block-r.com/) will soon offer a device called Quiet Cell, which sends incoming calls to voice mail while preventing any outgoing calls. Be sure to read this page: http://www.cell-block-r.com/Legal.htm.

If you're interested in cell phone jamming and would like to read more, go to http://slate.msn.com/id/2092059/.

James Kerr is President/CEO of SuperGeeks, a Hawaii-based computer service and repair company (www.supergeeks.net). Please feel free to send your questions, comments and suggestions to Mr. Kerr. He can be reached at kerr@supergeeks.net and 942-0773.